coming up, the costs of war for army chaplains -- seeing so much suffering. >> i would hear footsteps outside in the gravel, the crunch noise, and i would just be terrified that somebody was coming to tell me about another casualty. also, the provocative and controversial message of franciscan priest richard rohr and his call for spiritual transformation. major funding for religion and ethics news weekly is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to founders and christian religion, community development and

education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter and the jane henson foundation and corporation for public broadcasting. >> welcome, it's good to have you with us. voters in mississippi this week rejected the so-called "personhood amendment" -- a ballot measure that would have defined life as beginning at conception. 58% voted against it. religious groups in the state were divided on the issue. some opponents argued the measure was too broad and would ban certain types of birth control and in-vitro fertilization. but supporters say they will continue to push personhood amendments in other states, among them florida, california and ohio.

meanwhile, in ohio, a majority voted to repeal a law that would have limited the power of public employee unions. several religious groups supported the repeal. it turns out there are a lot more poor people in this country than the census bureau initially reported in september. that's because a new census formula takes into consideration differences in regional sts of living and rising medical costs, among other things. there are now just over a record 49 million poor americans. the largest increase was among people over 65, because of medicare premiums and prescription drug costs. one out of every six persons in that age group is poor. as for working age adults, ages 18 to 64, the poverty increase was due mostly to the costs of commuting and child care. palestinian officials this week acknowledged they probably

don't have the necessary votes to be granted full u.n. membership. in september, palestinian leader mahmoud abbas asked the united nations to formally recognize an independent palestinian state. the palestinians need nine members of the u.n. security council to approve their request, but new reports indicate they lack that many. as a back-up plan, the palestinians may take their cause to the general assembly, which can vote to call palestine a state but cannot grant the palestinians full u.n. membership. the supreme court heard oral arguments this week in a case over whether an american born in jerusalem can list israel as his place of birth on his passport. the case was brought by a couple whose son was born in jerusalem. they cite a 2002 federal statute that allows americans born in that city to list israel as the country of their birth. but because the status of

jerusalem remains unresolved, the u.s. does not recognize it as exclusively part of israel. this veterans' day weekend, remembering especially the service of all those who have fought in iraq and afghanistan, we have a moving story from lucky severson about army chaplain burnout. some chaplains have seen and ministered to so many dying or badly wounded soldiers, they themselves have become, in a sense, casualties. >> the month of may, we sustained our largest volume of casualties. we were conducting memorial ceremonies every few days, and by the time that month was over, i was pretty well worn out. >> reporter: chaplain steven rindahl served 15 months in iraq. now he's the chaplain at the fort jackson hospital in south carolina, which is also the headquarters of the army's chaplain school. there are 2900 full and part-time chaplains, and many

have served at least one tour of duty in a combat zone, and, like chaplain rindahl, been haunted by the experience. >> we have 17 of our soldiers killed and one of our contracted interpreters, and i did not keep count of how many traumatic amputations and other wounds that caused our people to be evacuated from theater. >> reporter: it was his fellow chaplains who took him aside and told him that he was suffering from what has become known as "compassion fatigue." >> i realized that what they were saying was true because i would hear footsteps outside in the gravel, the crunching noise, and i would just be terrified that somebody was coming to tell me about another casualty. >> across the board we have recognized that we do have chaplains that have experienced combat trauma. >> reporter: colonel mike dugal is the chaplain director for the center for spiritual leadership at ft. jackson. the center opened in 2008 partly in response to the realization

that, like soldiers, chaplains also suffer the trauma of combat stress. >> we do have chaplains that are going through the same psychological and traumatic events that our soldiers are going through. it is hard to be empathetic and to show compassion to our soldiers and to see the brokenness, to see the carnage and that not to affect you. >> reporter: according to the army, since the beginning of the war in iraq and afghanistan, it's chaplains have served a total of more than 20,000 months in combat zones, some have gone on as many as eight tours of duty. one survey revealed that 20% of these chaplains had suffered compassion fatigue or some sort of ptsd. like the soldiers, these chaplains are often in the heat of battle where death is very real and the casualties are friends.

lieutenant colonel graeme bicknell is not a chaplain, but he is an army expert on compassion fatigue. >> it can be nightmares. it can be lack of desire to eat, sort of feeling sad, sadness, avoiding certain behaviors because it reminds you of what happened. >> reporter: he says it's understandable that chaplains would experience compassion fatigue. >> the more empathic a person is, the more they're able to relate to somebody or be in their shoes. the more vulnerable they are to compassion fatigue. and i think that with chaplains, that empathic relationship is incredibly important to be able to benefit the soldier. >> i guess i first learned in a profound way how trauma can damage the soul when i was clinically trained at brook army medical center. >> reporter: chaplain john read is the army's director of the soldier and family ministries. >> you see the gunshot wounds, the stabbings, the burn patients, all the volatility of the kinds of things you see in a war zone. i mean i recognized there, as a

clinically trained chaplain working in a hospital setting how that would affect me in terms of questions of life, death, grief, loss. the things that profoundly become kind of moral, ethical, spiritual aspects of our lives. >> reporter: he tells of seeing the body parts of 38 little iraqi kids blown up by a terrorist bomb right after learning he had just become a grandfather. and of the soldier who died in his arms. >> he had just become a naturalized citizen two months before his death, killed in a rocket attack. i held him in my arms as he died and gave him, recited a prayer from his specific faith that he was from, and the peaceful look on his face as he thanked me and died, i will just never forget. but there isn't a day that i don't wish that he could somehow be with his wife and kids. >> reporter: one thing that often comes through is the deep, abiding respect and fatherly love these chaplains have for their soldiers.

>> it is natural for chaplains to weep with those who weep because a lot of these kids, most of these kids are the age of my youngest son and i'm a father to them. there are times that when i reflect about the cost that our military has paid since 9/11, i'm grateful that i had the opportunity to be with them. because it is an honor. >> reporter: and it is not only the soldiers chaplains weep for. it's the soldier's families. >> the chaplains that go out and do many notifications, supporting the casualty notification process and the death notifications. it's a heavy load to bear. and so at some point in time, invariably they have to re-engage themselves in a meaningful way to move in and through and beyond that.

>> reporter: that's where the chaplain's school and the center for spiritual leadership come into play. they get training here, discussion groups, reading lists, counseling. there's a chaplain museum tracing back to the revolutionary war. it was george washington who first dictated that each regiment should have its own chaplain. >> when pain and suffering is very real, soldiers know that they can turn to the chaplain. >> reporter: chaplain greg cheney served in both iraq and afghanistan. he says there was a time when what he experienced in combat challenged his faith. >> definitely, i mean when you go through that kind of extreme circumstances, there were times when i would, you know, question god and ask god what's going on. yeah, it's one of those experiences where everything doesn't make sense when it's happening. >> reporter: ultimately, he says, his faith actually grew from his combat experience. >> even when i was going through that, i felt an amazing sense of

calm in those situations as i ministered to those soldiers, and i know that that could not have been anything from myself, it was only god, you know, jesus christ working through me to touch these soldier's lives. >> i would definitely say that my faith has developed and not to the point of questioning the existence of god, but having to deal with the reality of pain and suffering and realize that there are no just simple answers. >> if you think about what christ did for humanity, he left a place of ultimate privilege in order to take on a hardship and ultimately sacrifice himself for people who didn't know him. and soldiers take upon themselves the obligation to leave the most privileged county in the world and be willing to sacrifice personal comfort and, although not intending to sacrifice their own life, at least be willing to.

>> reporter: there's a phrase that's become quite common among veterans, and among chaplains, of the iraq and afghanistan wars. it's called "the new normal." it means that their lives are never going to be quite the same as before. >> sunday school teachers i had had as a kid growing up who kind of always celebrated my journey said, "you're not the same." and i would say, reflectively, "how am i different?" "well, you've seen things that none of us will ever see. we can see that in your eyes." >> reporter: for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm lucky severson in crystal city, virginia. in other news, an interesting survey came out this week about voters and religion. according to the public religion research institute, 67% say it is very or somewhat important for a president to have strong religious beliefs. but there is concern about

mormonism, the religion of mitt romney. 42% said having a mormon president would make them somewhat or very uncomfortable. there were also questions about equal opportunity. 53% said one of the country's biggest problems is that not everyone has an equal chance to get ahead. and 60% said the country would be better off if wealth were distributed more equally. conservative activists, including some religious leaders, gathered on capitol hill this week to announce the creation of a new advocacy group for the 2012 presidential campaign. the chairman, bishop harry jackson from maryland, says they will help mobilize minority voters around three main issues -- jobs, healthcare and home foreclosures. it is not an explicitly christian organization, although jackson says people of faith are deeply concerned about those issues.

the group has yet to endorse any candidate or specific legislation. the third highest ranking leader of tibetan buddhism has urged tibetans to stop committing self-immolation. the karmapa lama said buddhism teaches that life is precious and should be preserved. 11 tibetans have set themselves on fire this year to protest china's policies towards tibet. prayer services have been held in india for the 11, among them a tibetan nun who died last week. the dalai lama has called their actions "a sign of deep desperation." in other news, this weekend, tlc cable network is presenting its latest reality program, this one about american muslims. it's called "all-american muslim" and it features five different families living in dearborn, michigan.

creators say they want to show muslims as "everyday folks." the cast includes a high school football coach and a businesswoman hoping to open a nightclub. also, this weekend, the national cathedral reopens for the consecration of the new episcopal bishop of washington, d.c., rev. dr. mariann edgar budde. the cathedral has been closed since august after it sustained significant damage in the earthquake that hit the washington area. the cathedral continues to try to raise funds for its repairs. damage from the quake has been estimated at $15 million. now, judy valente reports on richard rohr -- a franciscan priest who has become a widely popular author and lecturer with his message about the importance of spiritual experience. his new book is "falling upward," about moving beyond

everyday self interest into lives of prayer and contemplation. >> there's no place where you can't pray. >> reporter: richard rohr, a catholic priest, is addressing a packed house at trinity episcopal cathedral in portland, oregon. >> i love beautiful spaces. but if creating beautiful spaces like this for one moment leads you to think that god is not equally out there on the streets of portland, then religion is not doing its job. >> reporter: for the past 25 years, rohr, a franciscan priest, has run the center for action and contemplation in albuquerque. he calls himself a "radical traditionalist." for example -- >> it's not correct to say jesus is god. now, don't run and report me to the bishop, all right? it's not correct to say that. jesus is the union of the human and the divine. that's different. i've been a priest 43 years.

most of the catholics christians i've met would for all practical purposes believe jesus is god only, and we are human only. we missed the big point. the point is the integration, both in jesus and ourselves. >> reporter: such provocative ideas make him an enigma to some, and a modern-day prophet to others. richard rohr is one of the most popular spirituality authors and speakers in the world. his ideas appeal to people across faith traditions, and to spiritual seekers as well. rohr argues that most organized religions dispense doctrine when they should be encouraging personal transformation. >> without transformation, you can assume you're at a high moral, spiritual level just because you call yourself lutheran or methodist or catholic.

i think my great disappointment as a priest has been to see how little actual spiritual curiosity there is in so many people. >> reporter: rohr's popularity may be surprising since his ideas are highly nuanced and draw deeply from mythology, philosophy and psychology. he's lectured across the globe. and his books have been translated into numerous languages. his latest book is called "falling upward," and addresses the importance of the spiritual journey. >> it feels like falling, but it isn't falling. it's learning. it's transcending. >> reporter: in what he calls the first half of life, rohr says we're mostly concerned with everyday interests -- building our self-image. >> our culture is made to order for that. defining the self almost entirely by external achievements, by external appearance, by skin color, by the car you drive, where you live, and so forth.

you know, that all great spiritual traditions will call that illusion. illusion. foolishness. there's a further journey. there's something more than, you know, accumulating more money in the stock market. >> reporter: but in the second part of life, the spiritual part, we are more likely to see meaning in the losses, disappointments and failures we have suffered. it is not necessarily a chronological period. it can occur at any age, but is always characterized by a greater ability to appreciate mystery and paradox. >> it's the holding of tensions, of ambiguity, of pain, if you will, that in fact teaches us wisdom. there's an increased capacity for compassionníforgiveness, love. >> reporter: he calls himself a loyal catholic, but maintains too many churches emphasize teaching, which can leave us

stranded in a "religious comfort zone." >> we ask catholics to believe that mary was a virgin and jesus is god and you know, that's no skin off your back. i believe that. believe that, believe that, believe that. so what? >> reporter: rohr says that there is such a thing as absolute truth, and that religious doctrine has its place. but he maintains that a rigid adherence to doctrine is sometimes part of the problem. >> without honest self-knowledge religion ends up, i'm going to say it, being more a part of the problem than the solution. i mean, we've seen it now for centuries, that people who call themselves christian can be utterly racist, utterly sexist, utterly greedy, no questions asked. this is the kind of religion we end up with when you don't do your shadowboxing. >> reporter: shadowboxing, to rohr, means taking a hard look

at our flaws, our weaknesses and biases. it's an important first step, rohr says, toward uncovering what he calls "the true self." >> the spiritual life is very much a matter of cleaning the lens, clarifying how you see. so the shadow is what you don't want to see. shadowboxing never stops, that you keep seeing the parts of yourself that are paranoid, angry, defensive, accusatory, fearful, attacking. >> reporter: rohr calls solitude "a cure for loneliness" and describes it as an essential element for living a more contemplative and compassionate life. >> whenever you have a return to solitude and silence, you know that there's been a rediscovery of the contemplative mind. i think we should close down every pastoral program in a diocese and just teach our people how to pray.

it's the built-in therapy to let go of your addiction to yourself and to your repetitive obsessive thoughts, which just screws up just about everything. without the contemplative mind, which at this point in history we have to be taught, you simply don't have the wherewithal to deal with great spiritual truths. >> reporter: according to rohr, our society has plenty of elderly people, but lacks true "elders." >> elder is a capacity of soul that allows you to patiently understand things, and again i'm going to repeat our word for that is wisdom. it is not chronological maturity. it's how you've dealt with the dark side and how successfully you've dealt with disappointment, betrayal, abandonment, failure, and rejection. >> reporter: do you think that the spiritual journey only

begins in earnest when we hit rock bottom? >> only at that point which they call powerlessness do you learn to draw upon a bigger source. there's no other reason you will. and that's what i would call the spiritual journey. up to that point, and i don't mean this in a negative way, but up to that point it's largely religion. religion isn't bad, but until religion becomes actual spiritual experience, it is just religion. i think of the catholic parents who've demanded that their kids go to mass every sunday, but then they're sitting there themselves bored to death and hate every minute of it and walk out early and, i mean, the kids knows by three, "this is not a good thing to go to mass," you know? >> reporter: the things he sometimes says have, so far, not gotten him into trouble with the official church. >> you can't just have catholic truth, methodist truth, buddhist truth. if it's true, it's always true, and that's what we mean by the

perennial tradition. this desire to find the big patterns that are always true. i think that's been my desire and right on the heels of that has been my equal desire to show that christianity has always taught those truths. so in that sense i'm very traditional catholic, even though i often say it in different ways that make people think i'm not. >> reporter: he maintains he's neither a skeptic, nor a rebel. he speaks of faith and mystery this way -- >> i love to define mystery as not that which is unknowable, but that which is endlessly knowable. so you never get to the point where i know it all. and wouldn't we assume that would be the nature of god? that god will always by definition be mystery. more knowabiltiy, more

knowabiltiy, deeper experience, deeper surrender. so that's the meaning of faith, and why faith has such power, not just to transform people but to keep them on an ongoing path of transformation and growth. >> reporter: to take that path, rohr says, is to choose a life of growth, over spiritual stagnation. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm judy valente in portland, oregon. >> father rohr's books have been translated into 17 languages. he has taught in 42 countries and 48 of the 50 states. that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on twitter and facebook, find us on youtube, and watch us anytime, anywhere on smart phones and iphones. there's also much more on our website. you can comment on all of our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available.

join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, scenes from the annual sikh parade in yuba city, california. major funding for religion and ethics news weekly is provided by the lily endowment, a private family foundations dedicated to founders interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual, and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. the estate of william j carter, jane henton foundation and the corporation for public broadcasting.eé